J
O S H U A
CHAP. XXIII.
In
this and the following chapter we have two farewell sermons, which Joshua
preached to the people of Israel
a little before his death. Had
he designed to gratify the curiosity of succeeding ages, he would rather have
recorded the method of Israel's settlement in their new conquests, their
husbandry, manufacturers, trade, customs, courts of justice, and the
constitutions of their infant commonwealth, which one would wish to be
informed of; but that which he intended in the registers of this book was to
entail on posterity a sense of religion and their duty to God; and therefore,
overlooking these things which are the usual subjects of a common history, he
here transmits to his reader the methods he took to persuade Israel to be
faithful to their covenant with their God, which might have a good influence
on the generations to come who should read those reasonings, as we may hope
they had on that generation which then heard them. In this chapter we have, I.
A convention of the states called (ver. 1, 2), probably to consult about the
common concerns of their land, and to set in order that which, after some
years' trial, being left to their prudence, was found wanting. II. Joshua's
speech to them as the opening, or perhaps at the concluding, of the sessions,
to hear which was the principal design of their coming together. In it, 1.
Joshua reminds them of what God had done for them (ver. 3, 4, 9, 14), and what
he was ready to do yet further, ver. 5, 10. 2. He exhorts them carefully and
resolutely to persevere in their duty to God, ver. 6, 8, 11. III. He cautions
them against all familiarity with their idolatrous neighbours, ver. 7. IV. He
gives them fair warning of the fatal consequences of it, if they should revolt
from God and turn to idols, ver. 12, 13, 15, 16. In all this he showed himself
zealous for his God, and jealous over Israel with a godly jealousy.
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Joshua's
Charge to Israel.
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B.
C. 1427.
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1 And it came to pass a
long time after that the LORD
had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua
waxed old and stricken in age. 2 And Joshua called for all
Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their
judges, and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and
stricken in age: 3 And ye have seen all that the LORD
your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the LORD
your God is he that hath fought for you. 4 Behold, I have
divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for
your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto
the great sea westward. 5 And the LORD
your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your
sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD
your God hath promised unto you. 6 Be ye therefore very courageous
to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye
turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left;
7 That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither
make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them,
neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them: 8 But cleave
unto the LORD
your God, as ye have done unto this day. 9 For the LORD
hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for
you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day. 10
One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD
your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.
As to the date of this edict of Joshua,
I. No mention at all is made of the place where this general assembly was
held; some think it was at Timnath-serah, Joshua's own city, where he lived,
and whence, being old, he could not well remove. But it does not appear that
he took so much state upon him; therefore it is more probable this meeting was
at Shiloh, where the tabernacle of meeting was, and to which place, perhaps,
all the males that could had now come up to worship before the Lord, at one of
the three great feasts, which Joshua took the opportunity of, for the
delivering of this charge to them.
II. There is only a general mention of the time when this was done. It was long
after the Lord had given them rest, but it is not said how long, v.
1. It was, 1. So long as that Israel had time to feel the comforts of their
rest and possessions in Canaan, and to enjoy the advantages of that good land.
2. So long as that Joshua had time to observe which ways their danger lay of
being corrupted, namely, by their intimacy with the Canaanites that remained,
against which he is therefore careful to arm them.
III. The persons to whom Joshua made this speech: To all Israel, even their
elders, &c. So it might be read, v. 2. They could not all come
within hearing, but he called for all the elders, that is, the
privy-counsellors, which in later times constituted the great Sanhedrim, the
heads of the tribes, that is, the noblemen and gentlemen of their respective
countries, the judges learned in the laws, that tried criminals and causes,
and gave judgment upon them, and, lastly, the officers or sheriffs, who
were entrusted with the execution of those judgments. These Joshua called
together, and to them he addressed himself, 1. That they might communicate
what he said, or at least the sense and substance of it, to those under them
in their respective countries, and so this charge might be dispersed through
the whole nation. 2. Because, if they would be prevailed upon to serve God and
cleave to him, they, by their influence on the common people, would keep them
faithful. If great men be good men, they will help to make many good.
IV. Joshua's circumstances when he gave them this charge: He was old and
stricken in age (v. 1), probably it was in the last year of his
life, and he lived to be 110 years old, ch. xxiv. 29. And he himself
takes notice of it, in the first words of his discourse, v. 2. When he
began to be old, some years ago, God reminded him of it (ch. xiii. 1): Thou
art old. But now he did himself feel so much of the decays of age that he
needed not to be told of it, he readily speaks of it himself: I am old and
stricken in age. He uses it, 1. As an argument with himself to give them
this charge, because being old he could expect to be but a little while with
them, to advise and instruct them, and therefore (as Peter speaks, 2 Pet. i.
13) as long as he is in this tabernacle he will take all opportunities
to put them in remembrance of their duty, knowing by the increasing
infirmities of age that he must shortly put off this tabernacle, and desiring
that after his decease they might continue as good as they were now. When we
see death hastening towards us, this should quicken us to do the work of life
with all our might. 2. As an argument with them to give heed to what he said.
He was old and experienced, and therefore to be the more regarded, for days
should speak; he had grown old in their service, and had spent himself for
their good, and therefore was to be the more regarded by them. He was old and
dying; they would not have him long to preach to them; therefore let them
observe what he said now, and lay it up in store for the time to come.
V. The discourse itself, the scope of which is to engage them if possible,
them and their seed after them, to persevere in the true faith and worship of
the God of Israel.
1. He puts them in mind of the great things God had done for them, now in his
days, and under his administration, for here he goes no further back. And for
the proof of this he appeals to their own eyes (v. 3): "You
have seen all that the Lord your God has done; not what I have done, or
what you have done (we were only instruments in God's hand), but what God
himself has done by me and for you." (1.) Many great and mighty nations
(as the rate of nations then went) were driven out from as fine a country as
any was at that time upon the face of the earth, to make room for Israel.
"You see what he has done to these nations, who were his
creatures, the work of his hands, and whom he could have made new creatures
and fit for his service; yet see what destruction he has made of them because
of you (v. 2), how he has driven them out from before you (v.
9), as if they were of no account with him, though great and strong in
comparison with you." (2.) They were not only driven out (this they might
have been, and yet sent to some other country less rich to begin a new
plantation there, suppose to that wilderness in which Israel had wandered so
long, and so they would only have exchanged seats with them), but they were
trodden down before them; though they held out against them with the greatest
obstinacy that could be, yet they were subdued before them, which made the
possessing of their land so much the more glorious to Israel and so much the
more illustrious an instance of the power and goodness of the God of Israel (v.
3): "The Lord your God has not only led you, and fed you, and kept
you, but he has fought for you as a man of war," by which title he was
known among them when he first brought them out of Egypt, Exod. xv. 3. So
clear and cheap were all their victories, during the course of this long war,
that no man had been able to stand before them (v. 9), that is,
to make head against them, so as to put them in fear, create them any
difficulty, or give any check to the progress of their victorious arms. In
every battle they carried the day, and in every siege they carried the city;
their loss before Ai was upon a particular occasion, was inconsiderable, and
only served to show them on what terms they stood with God; but, otherwise,
never was army crowned with such a constant uninterrupted series of successes
as the armies of Israel were in the wars of Canaan. (3.) They had not only
conquered the Canaanites, but were put in full possession of their land (v.
4): "I have divided to you by lot these nations, both those which
are cut off and those which remain, not only that you may spoil and plunder
them, and live at discretion in their country for a time, but to be a sure and
lasting inheritance for your tribes. You have it not only under your feet, but
in your hands."
2. He assures them of God's readiness to carry on and complete this glorious
work in due time. It is true some of the Canaanites did yet remain, and in
some places were strong and daring, but this should be no disappointment to
their expectations; when Israel was so multiplied as to be able to replenish
this land God would expel the Canaanites to the last man, provided Israel
would pursue their advantages and carry on the war against them with vigour (v.
5): "The Lord your God will drive them from out of your sight, so
that there shall not be a Canaanite to be seen in the land; and even that part
of the country which is yet in their hands you shall possess." If it were
objected that the men of war of the several tribes being dispersed to their
respective countries, and the army disbanded, it would be difficult to get
them together when there was occasion to renew the war upon the remainder of
the Canaanites, in answer to this he tells them what little need they had to
be in care about the numbers of their forces (v. 10): One man of you
shall chase a thousand, as Jonathan did, 1 Sam. xiv. 13. "Each tribe
may venture for itself, and for the recovery of its own lot, without fearing
disadvantage by the disproportion of numbers; for the Lord your God, whose all
power is, both to inspirit and to dispirit, and who has all the creatures at
his beck, he it is that fighteth for you; and how many do you reckon
him for?"
3. He hereupon most earnestly charges them to adhere to their duty, to go on
and persevere in the good ways of the Lord wherein they had so well set out.
He exhorts them,
(1.) To be very courageous (v. 6): "God fighteth for you against
your enemies, do you therefore behave yourselves valiantly for him.
Keep and do with a firm resolution all that is written in the book of the
law." He presses upon them no more than what they were already bound
to. "Keep with care, do with diligence, and eye what is written with
sincerity."
(2.) To be very cautious: "Take heed of missing it, either on the right
hand or on the left, for there are errors and extremes on both hands. Take
heed of running either into a profane neglect of any of God's institutions or
into a superstitious addition of any of your own inventions." They must
especially take heed of all approaches towards idolatry, the sin to which they
were first inclined and would be most tempted, v. 7. [1.] They must not
acquaint themselves with idolaters, nor come among them to visit them or be
present at any of their feasts or entertainments, for they could not contract
any intimacy nor keep up any conversation with them, without danger of
infection. [2.] They must not show the least respect to any idol, nor make
mention of the name of their gods, but endeavour to bury the remembrance
of them in perpetual oblivion, that the worship of them may never be revived.
"Let the very name of them be forgotten. Look upon idols as filthy
detestable things, not to be named without the utmost loathing and
detestation." The Jews would not suffer their children to name swine's
flesh, because it was forbidden, lest the name of it should occasion their
desiring it; but, if they had occasion to speak of it, they must call it that
strange thing. It is a pity that among Christians the names of the heathen
gods are so commonly used, and made so familiar as they are, especially in
plays and poems: let those names which have been set up in rivalship with God
be for ever loathed and lost. [3.] They must not countenance others in showing
respect to them. They must not only not swear by them themselves, but they
must not cause others to swear by them, which supposes that they must not make
any covenants with idolaters, because they, in the confirming of their
covenants, would swear by their idols; never let Israelites admit such an
oath. [4.] They must take heed of these occasions of idolatry, lest by degrees
they should arrive at the highest step of it, which was serving false gods,
and bowing down to them, against the letter of the second commandment.
(3.) To be very constant (v. 8): Cleave unto the Lord your God,
that is, "delight in him, depend upon him, devote yourselves to his
glory, and continue to do so to the end, as you have done unto this day,
ever since you came to Canaan;" for, being willing to make the best of
them, he looks not so far back as the iniquity of Peor. There might be many
things amiss among them, but they had not forsaken the Lord their God, and it
is in order to insinuate his exhortation to perseverance with the more
pleasing power that he praises them. "Go on and prosper, for the Lord is
with you while you are with him." Those that command should commend; the
way to make people better is to make the best of them. "You have cleaved
to the Lord unto this day, therefore go on to do so, else you lose the praise
and recompence of what you have wrought. Your righteousness will not be
mentioned unto you if you turn from it."
11 Take good heed
therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD
your God. 12 Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto
the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and
shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you:
13 Know for a certainty that the LORD
your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you;
but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and
thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD
your God hath given you. 14 And, behold, this day I am
going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your
souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD
your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not
one thing hath failed thereof. 15 Therefore it shall come to pass,
that as all good things are come upon you, which the LORD
your God promised you; so shall the LORD
bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good
land which the LORD
your God hath given you. 16 When ye have transgressed the covenant
of the LORD
your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and
bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the LORD
be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land
which he hath given unto you.
Here, I. Joshua directs them what to do, that they might persevere in
religion, v. 11. Would we cleave to the Lord, and not forsake him, 1.
We must always stand upon our guard, for many a precious soul is lost and
ruined through carelessness: "Take heed therefore, take good heed to
yourselves, to your souls (so the word is), that the inward man be
kept clean from the pollutions of sin, and closely employed in the service of
God." God has given us precious souls with this charge, "Take good
heed to them, keep them with all diligence, above all keepings." 2. What
we do in religion we must do from a principle of love, not by constraint or
from a slavish fear of God, but of choice and with delight. "Lord the
Lord your God, and you will not leave him."
II. He urges God's fidelity to them as an argument why they should be faithful
to him (v. 14): "I am going the way of all the earth, I am
old and dying." To die is to go a journey, a journey to our long home; it
is the way of all the earth, the way that all mankind must go, sooner or
later. Joshua himself, though so great and good a man, and one that could so
ill be spared, cannot be exempted from this common lot. He takes notice of it
here that they might look upon these as his dying words, and regard them
accordingly. Or thus: "I am dying, and leaving you. Me you have
not always; but if you cleave to the Lord he will never leave you."
Or thus, "Now that I am near my end it is proper to look back upon the
years that are past; and, in the review, I find, and you yourselves know it
in all your hearts and in all your souls, by a full conviction on the
clearest evidence, and the thing has made an impression upon you"--(that
knowledge does us good which is seated, not in the head only, but in the heart
and soul, and with which we are duly affected)--"you know that not one
thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord spoke concerning you"
(and he spoke a great many); see ch. xxi. 45. God had promised them
victory, rest, plenty, his tabernacle among them, &c., and not one
thing had failed of all he had promised. "Now," said he,
"has God been thus true to you? Be not you false to him." It is the
apostle's argument for perseverance (Heb. x. 23), He is faithful that has
promised.
III. He gives them fair warning what would be the fatal consequences of
apostasy (v. 12, 13, 15, 16): "If you go back, know for a
certainty it will be your ruin." Observe,
1. How he describes the apostasy which he warns them against. The steps of it
would be (v. 12) growing intimate with idolaters, who would craftily
wheedle them, and insinuate themselves into their acquaintance, now that they
had become lords of the country, to serve their own ends. The next step would
be intermarrying with them, drawn to it by their artifices, who would be glad
to bestow their children upon these wealthy Israelites. And the consequence of
that would be (v. 16) serving other gods (which were pretended
to be the ancient deities of the country) and bowing down to them. Thus the
way of sin is down-hill, and those who have fellowship with sinners cannot
avoid having fellowship with sin. This he represents, (1.) As a base and
shameful desertion; "it is going back from what you have so well
begun," v. 12. (2.) As a most perfidious breach of promise (v.
16): "It is a transgression of the covenant of the Lord your God,
which he commanded you, and which you yourselves set your hand to."
Other sins were transgressions of the law God commanded them, but this was a
transgression of the covenant he commanded them, and amounted to a breach of
the relation between God and them and a forfeiture of all the benefits of the
covenant.
2. How he describes the destruction which he warns them of. He tells them,
(1.) That these remainders of the Canaanites, if they should harbour them, and
indulge them, and join in affinity with them, would be snares and traps to
them, both to draw them to sin (not only to idolatry, but to all immoralities,
which would be the ruin, not only of their virtue, but of their wisdom and
sense, their spirit and honour), and also to draw them into foolish bargains,
unprofitable projects, and all manner of inconveniences; and having thus by
underhand practices decoyed them into one mischief or other, so as to gain
advantages against them, they would then act more openly, and be scourges
in their sides and thorns in their eyes, would perhaps kill or
drive away their cattle, burn or steal their corn, alarm or plunder their
houses, and would be all ways possible be vexatious to them; for, whatever
pretences of friendship they might make, a Canaanite, unless proselyted to the
faith and worship of the true God, would in every age hate the very name and
sight of an Israelite. See how the punishment would be made to answer the sin,
nay, how the sin itself would be the punishment. (2.) That the anger of the
Lord would be kindled against them. Their making leagues with the Canaanites
would not only give those idolaters the opportunity of doing them a mischief,
and be the fostering of snakes in their bosoms, but it would likewise provoke
God to become their enemy, and would kindle the fire of his displeasure
against them. (3.) That all the threatenings of the word would be fulfilled,
as the promise had been, for the God of eternal truth is faithful to both (v.
15): "As all good things have come upon you according to the
promise, so long as you have kept close to God, so all evil things will come
upon you according to the threatening, if you forsake him." Moses had set
before them good and evil; they had experienced the good, and were now in
the enjoyment of it, and the evil would as certainly come if they were
disobedient. As God's promises are not a fool's paradise, so his threatenings
are not bugbears. (4.) That it would end in the utter ruin of their church and
nation, as Moses had foretold. This is three times mentioned here. Your
enemies will vex you until you perish from off this good land, v.
13. Again, "God will plague you until he have destroyed you from off
this good land, v. 15. Heaven and earth will concur to root you
out, so that (v. 16) you shall perish from off the good land."
It will aggravate their perdition that the land from which they shall perish
is a good land, and a land which God himself had given them, and which
therefore he would have secured to them if they by their wickedness had not
thrown themselves out of it. Thus the goodness of the heavenly Canaan, and the
free and sure grant God has made of it, will aggravate the misery of those
that shall for ever be shut out and perish from it. Nothing will make them see
how wretched they are so much as to see how happy they might have been. Joshua
thus sets before them the fatal consequences of their apostasy, that, knowing
the terror of the Lord, they might be persuaded with
purpose of heart to cleave to him.
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